by Valerie | Feb 22, 2017 | childhood, General interest, history, people
The TV crew is outside the Minster and I am tempted to watch it – a sort of distant bystander – rather than concentrate on the structure of my next book. Others gather on the pavement hoping to glimpse a famous actor, bewigged and booted, before he strides through the... by Valerie | Feb 9, 2017 | General interest, history, people, poetry, theatre
Next to the Globe theatre in London on the Southbank is the Sam Wannamaker Theatre, or, as I feel it to be, a theatre such as Inigo Jones would have designed in the early decades of the 17th century. Wooden seats, walnut backdrop and candles burning, then as now.... by Valerie | Jan 27, 2016 | book reviews, General interest, history, poetry, reading groups, travel, writing a novel
I’m crocodile green with envy when I learn that my writer friend Steven doesn’t do any revising. He’ a genius! He thinks and thinks about what he’s going to write for days, even weeks, and when he feels it’s ready, he writes the one and only version. The final one.... by Valerie | Nov 13, 2015 | art, General interest, history, Italy, museums, people, travel
Severed from the internet after my laptop’s ‘face’ slipped so I couldn’t find the icons and commands at the bottom, I’ve been unable to send emails or post blogs and lived a carefree time of neglect. My antiquated computer in Beverley still functions, but I have been... by Valerie | Oct 13, 2015 | childhood, General interest, history, Italy, travel
The leaves of the horse chestnut tree outside my window are edged in gold. Over the summer a bird of prey – some say a hawk – nested in one of the Minster towers and feasted on my companions for many a year, the woodpigeons. Schoolchildren scavenge for the conkers... by Valerie | Aug 25, 2015 | General interest, history
Friends have invited me back to Vienna and I am tempted. Will I repeat the strange things I did when I was last there? I planned to see the famous Spanish horses, but it was the wrong time of year for the dressage displays, so I could only look down from a balcony at...
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